Journalism in the Public Interest

ProPublica analyzed federal education data from the 2009-2010 school year to examine whether states provide high-poverty schools equal access to advanced courses and special programs that researchers say will help them later in life. This is the first nationwide picture of exactly which courses are being taken at which schools and districts across the country. More than three-quarters of all public school children are represented. Read our story and our methodology.

Hollifield Station Elementary, part of the Howard County Public Schools district, is located in Ellicott City, Maryland. The school reports enrolling 635 students in grades pre-kindergarten through five, and it has 50 teachers on staff.

Hollifield Station Elementary is below both the state and district averages for the percentage of its students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. On average, 34 percent of students in Maryland qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, whereas 12 percent of students at Hollifield Station Elementary are eligible. At the district level, 13 percent are eligible.

ProPublica's analysis found that all too often, states and schools provide poor students fewer educational programs like Advanced Placement, gifted and talented programs, and advanced math and science classes. Studies have linked participation in these programs with better outcomes later in life. Our analysis uses free and reduced-price lunch to estimate poverty at schools. We based our findings on the most comprehensive data set of access to advanced classes and special programs in U.S. public schools — known as the Civil Rights Data Set— released by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

Hollifield Station Elementary's enrollment rate for gifted and talented is 8 percent.

Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary, in Baltimore, Md., is a higher-poverty school than Hollifield Station Elementary, with 97 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school hasn't reported or may not have a gifted and talented program.

These data points were reported by schools and districts to the Office for Civil Rights. For more information about the data, see our full methodology.